The Chameleon Soldier: NOW AS AN ALIEN BLUE HE CANNOT DIE. Read Online Free PDF Page A

Muldoon. As he rode up to the farmhouse he was surprised and dejected to see how badly run down it had become. When he entered the sandy front yard, his mother and father were standing on the front porch. Having not aged himself, Killian was taken aback at how much older his parents looked. He dismounted. They stood staring across the yard at one another. Killian could see they were as surprised to see their son looking the same as the day he had left, as he was at their tired, older looking appearance. Then his mother rushed into his arms.
    Killian stayed longer than he had first planned. He did as much as he could to help them get the small ranch and farm back into shape. He mended fences, repaired and painted the old barn, and fixed some of the machinery.
    Then he left to rejoin the troop. On his arrival he learned that his nemesis Lieutenant Liddle had been promoted to captain, and he was now Master Sergeant Muldoon. Their company had received orders to report to Fort McDermitt in Nevada. Killian knew that having Captain Liddle as his commanding officer spelt trouble. Over the past months, Lieutenant Liddle had been instrumental in keeping Killian from going on important reconnaissance missions. Liddle watched his every move like a hawk.
    Once they arrived at Fort McDermitt, they learned their duty was to protect the stage route from Virginia City, Nevada, to Boise City, Idaho, from the hostile Bannock and Shoshone Indians. It was an uneventful duty. Killian was restless and bored. He wanted it to end. However, two years passed and in 1874, Killian was still at Fort McDermitt.
    That summer he became eligible for retirement, and was giving it serious thought. He was now forty-two years old, but still looked twenty-eight. Captain Liddle and the other men were beginning to wonder how he maintained such good health, and his youthful appearance. Killian’s decision to retire was hastened when he received a letter from his mother informing him his father had died. He retired, and left for El Paso, Texas. After returning home, Killian worked the farm and ranch for two years with his mother and Chester Freeman, a twenty-two-year-old married black man, whom he had hired.
    Then, in June 1876, he heard the news about the massacre of the 7th Cavalry and the death of General George Armstrong Custer. Killian thought about the military, he missed that way of life, and realized he wanted to return to the cavalry. He wanted to leave. For two days Killian weighed his decision. He knew there was more work to be done on the farm, and his mother needed him. Eventually he decided to stay on. Ten years passed. When his ageing mother caught pneumonia and died, Killian’s old desire to return to the military resurfaced.
    Chester and Martha Freeman now had two sons; Peter, born in 1876, and Jacob, born in 1877. They were young, strapping boys, and helped their father work the ranch, which had become successful due to Killian and Chester’s hard work. Killian’s yearning to get back into the military kept getting stronger.
    One day, he read about the government’s new fort in Montana that was named after General Custer. The part of the newspaper article, which particularly caught his attention was about the 1st Cavalry’s Company M. They were being transferred from Fort Custer to Fort Yellowstone, which was underfunded. Company M was taking over the duties of the civilian staff, as they were unable to protect the park’s natural features and wildlife. The soldiers’ duty was to protect the park from vandalism and extinction. Killian thought it would be good duty, as he no longer had the desire to fight Indians.
    He put the ranch in the capable hands of Chester and rode off to Fort Custer. It was now July 1886. Having been born in the summer of 1832, Killian was fifty-four years old, but he had not aged since 1860. He still had the appearance of a strong and handsome young man, with a full head of red hair and a trimmed beard. While on his